Giezendanner Marabu 1972 (most likely year) kit.

Hi,

Here is some info about Bruno Giezendanner Marabu "1967-1969" kit version.
Kit below was made by Giezendanner in 1969 (about), bought directly from Giezendanner at that time and kit is as seen in pictures below.
Price for the kit back then was 2500 Swedish Krona = 353 Swiss francs = US $360 = 294 Euro.
I bought the kit for half that price some time ago at an F3A competition from a person here in my country that bought it directly from Giezendanner back in the days but he never finished it.
A very expensive kit back then but it was an ARF of that time: glass fuselage with built in ply bulkheads and maple engine mount, stab+elevator, fin+rudder, wing+aileron built from light balsa, fixed landing gear already built in the wing, nose gear built in, wingbolts installed, all control surfaces hinged (but not glued) with Klett hinges. Wing, stab, fin and control surfaces covered with silk and doped. Middle of wing reinforced with glass weave. Throttle and nose stearing tubes installed.
What You had to do was cut out for the .60/.61 engine prefered and bolt it in, dope the wing, stab, fin and control surfaces to ready for paint stage, paint fuselage, wing etc. Glue all hinges, mount control horns for rudder and elevator, make control rods, mount radio and tank (round 12 oz). Mount canopy (missing in my kit but according to drawing for Mk III 1971 it is a 9 inch Du-Bro canopy that is used and according to drawing for Mk I 1969 it is Graupner Caravelle type canopy).

Note that on nose ring it is stamped "113" (see image 9 below) so it was kit number 113 produced.
Note also in the center section of wing where servo install it is written "Gizendanner, Schweitz, 67-69" (note misspelled - correct is Giezendanner).

This kit is suppose to be "pre" Marabu Mk III. Marabu Mk III came in 1971 with construction article in Model Airplane News July 1972.
So I would guess the kit is close to the 1969 World Champion version of Marabu?

Some similarities and differences I have observed between the kit compared to Marabu Mk III drawing:

I have not decided yet if:
a) I will use the already installed fixed gear or rebuild for retractable gear.
b) I will make the fuselage avaliable for making copies via "frequentflyer" "factory" but then I have to use a Fein multimaster cutting saw and cut loose the stab and fin.

I have decided to use my Webra .61 Blackhead with original Webra silencer.
The wing has to be recovered and I think I will use SIG Koverall since it is reasonably light and very strong. Stab, fin, control surfaces are in great shape and need just some sanding and some dope to be ready for paint (they are already covered by silk).

I will try to find a 9 inch Du-Bro canopy but it will probably be hard to find one today.

Anyway, I hope some of you found it interesting to read about this "kit" of Marabu made by Mr Giezendanner himself back in the pattern hay days.
He won F3A World Championship 1969 and 1971 with Marabu, in slightly different versions.

It is a piece of pattern history and not that many of these kits can probably be found today.

I have studied Marabu 1969 ("Mk I") drawing and building instruction now also and typed in measurments in first post to compare with Mk III and the kit version.

I found out that in building instructions for Mk I (1969) version it is mentioned that Graupner Carevelle canopy can be used and I had such canopy and it fit very good when compare the drawing.
It is also mentioned in Mk I building instruction that Kato (MK) or KDH retracts can be used.

What conclusion that can be drawn regarding the year the Marabu kit was made is difficult. On one hand it is written in the balsa "67-69" in the center section of wing and it has manufacture number 113 stamped in the nose ring. On the other hand if one read the construction article for Marabu Mk III in Model Airplane News July 1972 (see below) it is clearly written there about the shortening of the nose and thined down fuselage and this was done in Mk III (1971) compared to Mk I (1969). But the kit version has even shorter nose (and same fuselage width as Mk III). Maybe the kit is some slight evolution (newer) then Mk III? Who knows?

I have now sent e-mail to Giezendanner-Technik and asked if they know when this kit was in production. Maybe they know or can find out.

/Bo

Memory is fading but I believe it was either an MK kit or a Isao Matsui kit. I only remembered I had to chase around all over Tokyo to find a hobby shop to buy the kit. At 17 years old and not speaking Japanese it was an adventure to say the least. It was definitely an all balsa kit. It was in a box that actually fit on the overhead compartment of a commercial airliner.

I checked some of my old catalogs today and in one of them, a Swedish catalog, from 1975 (and 1977) it was MRM, Marutaka, Marabu 60 (MRM = Marutaka RC Models).
Maybe it was that balsa kit You bought in Tokyo? I believe the MRM Marabu 60 has colorscheme of Giezendanner 1971 version, so it could maybe be that kit You bought?
Image below of the Martutaka Marabu 60 together with one other MRM model and some MK models from that era.

/Bo

Images

I checked some of my old catalogs today and in one of them, a Swedish catalog, from 1975 (and 1977) it was MRM, Marutaka, Marabu 60 (MRM = Marutaka RC Models).
Maybe it was that balsa kit You bought in Tokyo? I believe the MRM Marabu 60 has colorscheme of Giezendanner 1971 version, so it could maybe be that kit You bought?
Image below of the Martutaka Marabu 60 together with one other MRM model and some MK models from that era.

/Bo

That makes perfect sense. Marutaka is another one of the great Japanese kit maker. They kit mostly scale planes now. I was really unsure because I didn't think it was MK or Yoshioka. That's why I thought it was Isao Matsui. However Marutaka makes sense. It must have been it.

I got some info about my "kit" (glass fuselage and ready made wing+stab etc that this thread is about) from Giezendanner-Technik and they think it is from 1972. They will ask Emil Giezendanner (brother to Bruno Giezendanner) for info also and come back to me.

It make sense to me that it is about 1972 (so Mk III or even some enhancement of that) since the nose is so short (even shorter then MK III) and that was a trend for reasons mentioned in construction article in Model Airplane News July 1972.

I have also found a French model magazine from 1969 where it is an article about Marabu, we will se how much I will understand of the French...

Images

your thread about the Marabu is very interesting. You have a lot of material about them.
Did you know, that Bruno Giezendanner already flew the Marabu in the world champs of 1967.? With Wingspan of 1820mm and an older Fin shape.

In an old german magazin from April 1968 is an articel that shows the marabu anno 1968.

By the way, I love this model and one day I want to built it.

regards
Joshua

Images

Yes I had information that Bruno Giezendanner used a Marabu also in 1967 World Championship (I do not know what place he got at that WC).
I did not know it was a drawing available for it and that it had larger wingspan etc then the MK I and MK III versions.

I have a table from one model magazine where I could see info about Marabu 1967 - what engine, prop, radio etc Bruno Giezendanner used at 1967 World Championchip - see image below.

I have also found out that Marabu is an evolution of an earlier model "Pelikan 64" that Bruno Giezendanner was Swiss national champion with in 1965 (and maybe was competing also in WC 1965 with this model?).
See image of Pelikan below.
Info and images of Pelikan 64 also:

I have some info about Marabu ARF (1969 and 1971 versions) - they are delayed. It was said they should be delivered in July but we have to wait little longer (I have ordered since long time back). I got en e-mail from Giezendanner-Technik about that.

"The kit can not possibly be 69 to 67. At that time there was no polyester fuselages. The first came around 1972. Unless someone had a body shaped earlier then this. Only the number [113] makes me a little suspicious."

I changed the Subject for this thread slightly now also to "Giezendanner Marabu 1972 (most likely year) kit."